Masai

Masai, a people of East Equatorial Africa, dwelling in a district that stretches from 1° N. to 5° S. lat., and from 34° to 38° E. long., and includes Kilimanjaro, Kenia, and Lake Baringo. The southern half of the district is low and barren, with no rivers and little rain, whilst in the north it rises into a plateau-region (5000 to 9000 feet), rich in running streams, forests, and grass-land. The Masai are not a Negro or Bantu race; they resemble the Gallas, being men of magnificent stature and Apollo-like forms, though their faces are ugly and ferocious in expression. This is due to the warlike habits of their youth, when, for nearly a score of years, they live in military kraals, spending their time in alternate idleness and on the war-path, eating nothing but beef, drinking nothing but milk, and having indiscriminate intercourse with the unmarried girls of the tribe. After marriage, which takes place when they lay aside the habits of the warrior, they settle down as cattle-breeders. The arms of the warriors consist of an ox-hide shield, a spear with a blade 2 to 2½ feet long and 3 inches broad, affixed to a shaft of 15 inches, a sword, and a knobkerry. They are an aristocratic race, and clever public speakers. The work is done by slaves and by the women and boys. They speak a Hamitic language. See Joseph Thomson, Through Masai Land (1885), and compare H. H. Johnston, Kilimanjaro Expedition (1886).